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potato

Yes we all love onion bhajis in the UK but how many can we possibly eat? OK we can eat a lot but have you ever been tempted to try something different? These are potato bhajis and are super simple to make. They are incredibly crispy and can be a great snack or starter when you have people over. These are my absolute favourite and is something that your friends and family will just love. Just watch them fly out of the bowl!

Every Gujarati person will have their own recipe for this dish, but this is how I made mine.

I peeled two or three medium potatoes and sliced them as thin as possible. If you have a food processor or a slicer that can do it for you then I highly recommend it, if not a good old knife will do the trick. Just watch your fingers.

In a bowl, mix the following ingredients:

2 heaped tbsp Gram flour (chickpea flour)

1 tsp salt

1tsp turmeric

1tsp chilli powder

1tsp coriander and cumin powder

1 tsp ginger and garlic paste

1/2 tsp green chilli (chopped)

A handful of chopped coriander

I don’t really use measurements so these are just a guide, if you don’t like spicy food then you don’t have to add chilli, just adjust the recipe to your taste. Add enough cold water to make a pancake batter consistency and then add the sliced potatoes and make sure they are all coated evenly.

And that is it. All you have to do now is carefully drop each slice of potato coated in the batter into a deep fat fryer or a pan filled with oil. They will only take a few minutes to cook and will come out nice and crispy!

Take this from me, if you are the one making these then try not to eat them all as soon as they come out of the fryer or you will get a stomach ache. But it was worth it…

Serve with a spicy chutney or ketchup for those who don’t like it too hot. Enjoy!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at my boring sandwich or same old salad for lunch and thought, surely I can eat something else? Especially in the winter, I long for something warm that won’t make me feel sleepy all afternoon.

So today I decided to make leek and potato soup, and it was very satisfying. I didn’t add any cream (even though I really wanted to!) because as a weekday lunch I didn’t want it to be full of calories . All I did was fry a medium sized chopped onion, two garlic cloves, 2 sliced leeks and one small sliced potato in some olive oil. I let them sweat down a little bit and then added some chicken stock. I boiled it until the potato was cooked through and then added a splash of semi-skimmed milk, seasoned with salt and pepper and blitz until smooth. I also added some fresh parsley to give the soup a bit of a lift.

I think soup is a great idea for lunch, you can make a batch on the weekend and then freeze into individual portions for the week and off you go. I’m not a fan of those packet soups because who knows what is in them and they taste a bit watery to me. I like to know that I am getting some real veg in me. And there are so many different combinations you could try, such as sweet potato and carrot soup or tomato and red pepper soup. What flavours do you like?

Ok so this is another treat! But my nephew came to stay and I decided to treat him. I thought I would try and make my own chips but fry them this time. So I chopped my potatoes (with the skin on to give it a rustic look) into thin chips and par boiled them for a few minutes. After I drained them I patted them dry with kitchen paper and then put them in a fryer. Try not to put too many in at a time or they won’t cook properly. I took them out and seasoned them straight away with rosemary and salt so that it sticks. They were delicious! I promise I don’t eat chips all the time!